Cruising - South Coast
A south coast summer With horizons rather limited last summer, Polly Thornton rounded up the family plus dog and rediscovered the delights of Solent sailing
W
hen it became clear that the first lockdown in 2020 was going to end on or about the 4 July I hit the phones. With the uncertainty around Covid, restrictions and a possible 2nd lockdown we had decided that we would stay in The Solent and take two separate weeks as holiday, one going East, the other West. On the 11th July we set sail from our home port of Lymington for
42 22
Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JULY JUNE2021 2021
Haslar Marina, Portsmouth on the incoming tide and a light westerly. Five hours later Samphire, our Beneteau 31 arrived and Alfie our Border collie jumped off ready for a walk in the large park behind the marina. We had booked a table at The Lightship restaurant by leaving messages and I wasn’t quite sure if they had been received. They were expecting us however and we had a lovely table with windows looking out
ABOVE Poole Harbour BELOW LEFT Samphire, our Beneteau 31 BELOW CENTRE The iconic sight of the Spinnaker tower Portsmouth
Sailing up the solent on to the Spinnaker Tower and Portsmouth harbour. We complimented the staff on how well they were managing during Covid. They were so appreciative as they said they had many customers moaning and 4 people had just tried to get a free meal by complaining and threatening a bad review. In the morning we walked Alfie around the park and decided to go and visit the Submarine Museum before we left. My father had worked
